FitDog Friday – the Freedom of Hands Free

It’s been about three months since we did our review of the Umbilical Belt Dog Leash during Multi-Pet Mania month. You can read my full review of this product by clicking here. I have been enjoying using it when training Luke, and when running with Cricket. I’d sometimes forget to use it at other times, and as soon as I’d get out there without it, I’d wonder why. Since Cricket got her arthritis diagnosis, I haven’t been taking her jogging anymore, I’ve been going by myself (Sheba also has arthritis, and Luke has bad knees). I’m trying to work up to 5K by the end of the fall, and it’s easier to go by myself without worrying about how it’s affecting the dogs. But when I get back from my run, I take one of the dogs for a 1/2 mile to mile walk as my cool down.

I grab a bottle of water when I get back from running, so it only makes sense to put on the Umbilical Belt so I can juggle my water along with the dog and treats for training. Plus it’s just easier on my hands (which have their own issues of arthritis, etc.). But the one thing I hadn’t done yet was to walk Sheba with it. Sheba is a puller and a weaver when she walks. I always say she’s like flying a kite….back and forth she goes. It’s a challenge to keep her on the side of the road and just walking in a straight line. I wasn’t sure how hands free would work with her. But I had noticed that both Luke and Cricket seem to walk better on the hands free leash. There’s something about meeting the resistance of my full body, as compared to just my arm/shoulder, when they pull, that makes them walk better.

“What the heck…why can’t I pull like I usually do?”

Since our friends over at Groovy Goldendoodles were brave enough to walk two dogs on theirs, I knew it was time to try Sheba on it, and then work up to more than one dog at a time. So this week we took the first step with Sheba, and I was very pleased with how it went. Sheba did try pulling a bit more, but it’s so much easier for me to absorb that with my core than with my arm and shoulder. Overall, she walked better too, and I think with more practice she’ll get even better.

She looks happier as she gets more used to it!

Next up: get a second leash and try more than one dog, or I may try one dog hands free and one on a leash to start. We’ll let you know how that goes, though it may still take me some time to be ready for that! In the meantime, I highly recommend the Umbilical Belt for walking or running with your dogs.

We were not compensated for this post, we just wanted to share our progress with this product. However, this post contains an affiliate link and we will receive a small commission if you order through it.

We are joining the FitDog Friday blog hop. Join our hosts SlimDoggy, To Dog With Love and MyGBGVLife, and also visit other blogs through the links below to learn more about keeping your dogs fit and happy!

Comments

I would love to try this, because I figured out the other day why I had such tremendous pain in my shoulder. 🙁 My concern is using it walking both dogs and all the crazy encounters we have in our neighborhood. I know if it was just one I could always use my arms to help gain control of the situation, but if you could only see these too. I think, for me, it would be disastrous.

I understand that, Jodi. I think this is best used with dogs that walk pretty well, which is why I hesitated to try it with Sheba. She can get a little wild sometimes, but usually it’s when we’re just starting out and then she settles down. Our neighborhood is pretty quiet, so that makes it easier for us too. When we took the two girls hiking, I didn’t use it either, but my hands were feeling the pain of that afterwards (and I get that shoulder pain too)!

What a cool product. I’m glad you are getting such great use out of it Jan. Hands free is always nice! It’s been a while since I visited…I hope you are doing well. Come visit sometime my friend.
Love, Pixel

There is definitely something to be said about your entire body being able to better manage the movements of a dog than just your arm/shoulder! I have a handsfree Hipster by Outward Hound that I use when I go hiking, mainly because it’s a fantastic means of carrying a few first aid supplies, my phone, and car keys. It does come with a leash attachment I haven’t really used yet when out on hikes. So far, I’ve used it to practice polite loose leash walking 🙂

That sounds interesting since you can carry supplies with it as well. I might have to look into that if we start doing more hiking. We took the girls yesterday, and they don’t walk as well on hikes in unfamiliar places, as they do on our usual routes – they pull a lot more.

You do have to be sure you have a well trained dog that doesn’t get too out of control; which is why I hesitated to use it with Sheba! But my dogs don’t really go crazy over critters, and we don’t really see a lot anyway. They tend to stick close to me for the most part.

That loose leash with Luke is so impressive! I’m glad it worked so well with Sheba, too! I don’t know what Bar would think about it–and I think with Barley’s other dog issues, I’d be wary to use it with her because it seems like a disaster waiting to happen if a loose dog charged at us, but I love the concept.

I’m glad this is working so well for you guys! But I speak for experience when I say: watch out for squirrels. 😀

More seriously, Pamela at Something Wagging offered a really helpful equation for me. Dogs can pull up to three times their weight easily. So as long as you weigh three times more than your dog, you can probably safely run with them on a waist leash, even if they have high prey drive and might take off if they see a critter while you’re already running and not prepared to slow down.

Oh, then I guess that means Cricket is the only one I should probably use it for! For some reason, we don’t see a lot of critters when we walk. We do hear chipmunks sometimes and the dogs will go alert but they don’t usually try to give chase (knock wood).

But I’ve been known to hit the ground when walking with a regular leash. Luke took off when a neighbor’s dog ran out after us (he was harmless but we didn’t know that for sure). While I was lying on the ground, refusing to let go of that leash, Luke slipped out of his harness and ran home! I was OK, mostly just embarrassed!

I want one of these so badly. I know I can’t do multiple dogs with one (given the past two weekends), but I could walk one dog and it would be really nice and allow me to do the speed walking arm motions.

I did see you’ve had a rough time of it lately. I’m too chicken to try to walk all of my dogs at once, so I give you credit for doing it! This leash does just help to give better form and posture I think even if you’re only walking one dog, and would be perfect for speed walking.

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[…] works perfectly for this, because you can use it either way! It is not quite as comfortable as the Umbilical Belt, but it gives you the option of having it around your waist, or using it as a regular leash. I did […]

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